The above Flag Map of Gaza is from Wikimedia Commons and the author is DrRandomFactor
 

“In our pain, anguish, and lament, we have searched for God, 
and found Him under the rubble of Gaza” 
Rev. Munther Isaac 

Dear Friends,

This week we are talking about Gaza. The ongoing war, and the humanitarian disaster that is occurring is right under our noses, and yet nothing seems to be done about it. People have been asking us what they can do to help, and have wanted to understand more about the situation.
With help from Pat Devlin, who spent some time as an Ecumenical
Accompanier, and from our friends at Pax Christi, we have put together a few articles which we hope will explain more about what is going on, and where it all stemmed from – and may even make you want to do more.

Regards and blessings to you all,

Sharon
 

Action of the Week

 

An open Letter to our Christian Faith leaders. 

The unthinkable violence in the Holy Land has shaken us. The horrific brutality of the Hamas assault on 7 October has been met with months of unrelenting bombardment causing unthinkable death, injury, and destruction. With the denial of the essentials of life
– water, food, shelter, medicine – and a litany of dehumanising and incendiary rhetoric, we’ve watched the worst impulses of revenge and rage take hold.  
As we approach Holy Week, Pax Christi International, an organisation dedicated to nonviolence as the only path to a sustainable peace, implores you to speak out forcefully
and often calling for an end to this carnage. Not one more life should be sacrificed. In sermons and parish messages, in pastoral letters and statements you have the unique power to awaken the hearts and minds of the faithful.
We beg you to use it. Call for an immediate bi-lateral ceasefire, the release of all hostages and those held in Israeli detention and the restoration of critical UNRWA funding.  
Our resolve and courage to stand with the powerless is being tested. We look to you, our spiritual leaders, for a prophetic voice to denounce the evil of war and the killing of so many innocent men, women, and children…some barely in this world for hours.  
Do we speak out on behalf of the most vulnerable…those caught in the crosshair of bullets and bombs? 
Does our collective Christian voice echo the teachings of Jesus or has it, in its tepid silence, become another weapon?  
We shudder to think that the cries of the living stones of Palestine have fallen on deaf ears.  
When will our sisters and brothers in Gaza know that the Church has not abandoned them? 
Or, like Jesus, will they be left to suffer alone in a garden of rubble? 
Have we too fallen asleep?  

The time to speak is now. There is not a minute to waste. 

The above, from Pax Christi International, is meant for Christian Faith Leaders. Please pass it onto any Christian Faith Leader that you know of – let’s spread the word.

Thank you.
 

Recruitment for EAs for 2025 is now open and you can apply via our job pages.
Please see the 2024-25 role description (PDF) for an idea of what the work involves,
and check the essential information (PDF) before you apply.

Action

Palestine Solidarity Campaign are holding pretty much weekly actions against what is going on in Gaza. On Friday, they wrote: – Hunger is killing Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.  Last week, the Palestinian Ministry of Health reported 21Palestinians, including 17 children, had died of malnutrition and hydration caused
by Israel’s genocidal campaign. 

The government’s smears against our principled movement for justice are an attempt to distract from Israel’s ongoing genocide, and the UK’s active complicity in it.
We must not let them change our focus.

Obviously, it is too late for the actions they had around the country this weekend, but please sign up to their web page for details of any future events.

But, Palestinian Christians have been calling on us, the Universal Church and the International Community, through their Kairos Document issued at the end of 2009 to respond in some very specific ways. They don’t want hand wringing and empty words of sympathy – they want our action – now more urgently than ever.
They have called on us to: pray; to inform ourselves about the history and the current reality of the situation; to urge our politicians to take economic action as the most effective non violent way of achieving an immediate ceasefire leading to rebuilding life in Gaza, an end to the Occupation of the West Bank, and an end to the discriminatory laws in Israel, thus opening the way to a Just Peace, and when the violence subsides to come and see, meeting with their communities during any visit to the Holy Land

I have outlined below some very practical ways that we can respond to the longstanding call of Palestinian Christians. No-one can do all these things but everyone can pray and do at least one other action

Prayer
 

Stay informed and Hear other Voices from the heart of the conflict
 

Combatants for Peace: Israelis and Palestinians formerly involved in the armed
struggle, now committed to nonviolent means to achieve a just peace
https://cfpeace.org/
 

Show solidarity:
 

Email your MP asking them to support
 

Donate to:

Medical Aid for Palestine whose aid is particularly invaluable in Gaza https://www.map.org.uk/donate/donate

Hebron International Resource Network                                           https://cafdonate.cafonline.org/7827#/DonationDetails
Helping communities stay on their land, education+livelihoods.
Currently responding in the West Bank to massive increase in demolitions, loss of                                                               livelihood and inability to pay higher education fees, and the plight of Gazan workers                                                            expelled from Israel but unable to return to Gaza

Come & See

This will be so important when the violence subsides

Pilgrimages: Let’s ensure all our diocesan pilgrimages include encounters                                                 with Palestinian Christians – the Living Stones Through Sabeel Palestinian                                                   centre for Liberation theology https://sabeel.org                                                                                                  Or Kairos Palestine https://www.kairospalestine.ps/ or                                                                                        Pax Christi(see below)                                         

Encounter & awareness visits:

The Last Word…

On 4th March 2024, Sabeel wrote: – Last month, members of U.S. Congress                                              received more than 500 olivewood hearts made and blessed in Bethlehem                                                 from the United Church of Christ. Each wooden heart represents one beating                                                 heart of the nearly 12,000 Palestinian children killed in Gaza since October 7th.
The hearts were accompanied with a letter urging Congress to “raise your voice
for peace and reconciliation in the Holy Land. True peace can only be achieved
through the pursuit of justice for all parties involved.” 

Lord in your mercy… hear our prayer